Antlers

 

Antlers

2021

Director- Scott Cooper

Cast- Keri Russell, Jeremy T. Thomas, Jesse Plemons, Graham Greene, Scott Haze, Amy Madigan, Rory Cochrane, Sawyer Jones

            This modern day folk horror centers on the Wendigo, a malevolent entity from the mythology of the native peoples of North America. If you are unfamiliar with the Wendigo, its folklore usually involves cannibalism; it drives people to eat the flesh of others or people become the Wendigo after eating the flesh of others.

            This story takes place in a dying Oregon town where drug addiction and poverty are slowly eating it away. The film begins with a meth manufacturer being attacked by a monster in in his meth lab housed in an abandoned coal mine. His 12 year old son, Lucas (Jeremy T. Thomas,) finds his father and takes him home. His father begins to change and Lucas is burdened with keeping this secret while finding ways to satisfy his degenerating father’s hunger for meat.

            But this secret can’t stay hidden for long. Lucas’ teacher (Keri Russell) can tell that something is wrong with Lucas and starts nosing around in Lucas’ life. Meanwhile, people are disappearing around town and later their bodies are found mangled and partially devoured. The only person who seems to know what’s happening is the town’s old retired sheriff (played by Graham Greene). He is familiar with the lore of the Wendigo, but of course no one takes him seriously.

            Antlers is a pretty serious film. It doesn’t have any of the humor or light hearted moments that horror films often use to give breaks in the tension. It starts off grim and ends that way. The sky is always grey, the ground is wet and the leaves are falling off of the trees.

 

Addiction figures prominently in the story. The film doesn’t hit you over the head with it, but it pops up all through the film in the background; Lucas’ dad making meth, references to people getting narcaned, radio broadcasts about opiate addiction, people standing in line at a methadone clinic, an alcoholic staring longingly at a wall of bottles. Graham Greene’s description of the Wendigo even sounds rather like addiction when he says that the more it eats, the hungrier it gets. Lucas’ denial about his father’s condition and his attempts to hide it from others seem very much like the classic codependent in an addicted family. Along with this, poverty, child abuse and neglect also figure prominently into the background of the story. With all of these depressing themes, the monster and the gory murders almost seem like a relief from the grim tone of the film.

The film was shot in late 2018 with an early 2020 release planned. But like everything else in the world, its release kept getting pushed back by Covid-19. It has finally arrived just in time for Halloween weekend, 2021. I think this was probably for the best anyway. The film’s grey skies and leaf covered grounds feel right for a dreary Fall day.

Don’t watch this if you’re looking for a light hearted distraction while munching on some snacks. On the other hand, if you’re in the mood for some folk horror that sticks with you after the film is over, Antlers is worth your time.

I Drink Your Blood

 

 

I Drink Your Blood

1971

Director- David E. Durston

Cast- Bhaskar Roy Chowdhury, Jadin Wong, Rhonda Fultz, George Patterson, Arlene Farber, Lynn Lowry

            Rabid Satanists; that sums up the plot of this film in 2 words. It’s an idea so bizarrely funny, I can’t believe no one had thought of it before!

            A cult of Satanic, LSD tripping hippies breaks down on the side of the road and takes refuge in a nearby rural community that’s on its way to becoming a ghost town. The cult is headed by Horace Bones (great name!), a charismatic, Manson-inspired, autocrat.

 

   

            The cult holds up in an abandoned house where they go about torturing one of their own members for kicks. The town’s apparent patriarch, an old man who happens to be the town veterinarian, sticks his nose into their business and gets beat up. If you ask me, he got off light. If horror movies have taught me anything, its to stay away from hippies. The old man’s grandson decides to take revenge.

            The kid works at the only remaining store in town, where the Satanists have been buying their groceries (the Prince of Darkness doesn’t supply everything you know!). The kid kills a rabid dog, drains its blood, and injects that blood into meat pies sold to the Satanists. I have to say, that’s a pretty devious plot. Maybe that kid missed his calling and should have joined up with the hippies.

            The Satanists partake of the tainted meat pies and soon show signs of infection. In short order they become rabid, murderous maniacs that start killing each other and the locals. At one point, one of the female Satanists goes down to the local mining camp for a gang bang which results in a whole bunch of rabid miners (no, rabies it’s not sexually transmitted, lol).

            The movie is silly in places as its depiction and description of rabies is laughably inaccurate. However, since the hippies were also on acid, I guess we can chalk up any inaccuracies to that. Besides, if you’re watching I Drink Your Blood as prep for your microbiology exam, I guess you’re already in trouble.

            The movie was released as part of a double feature with I Eat Your Skin (a previously unreleased zombie film that had its name changed for the purpose of creating a memorable double billing). It has developed a cult following and despite any shortcomings, has a lot to recommend it.

 

            About 30 years before “diversity” became a buzzword, the Satanic cult in this film was made of brown, black, white, east  Asian, and Indian members (I guess Satan has always been egalitarian). Bhaskar Roy Chowdhury’s performance as Horace the cult leader is very good. He has Hollywood level good looks and you have to wonder why he never went on to a bigger career. There is some memorable gore that looks pretty convincing. Animal rights advocates may want to skip the film. There are a few scenes involving animals and given the film’s age and low budget, I assume they were using the real thing. If you can handle that, I Drink Your Blood is a fun addition to your grindhouse collection.

Fun fact- Scream Queen Lynn Lowry made her film debut in this movie as the sexiest member of the hippie cult. Two years later she would star in George Romero’s The Crazies (another movie about people driven homicidal by an infection) and then two years later she would star in yet another film about homicidal infection, David Cronenberg’s Shivers.